Mark Zuckerberg’s recent trip to D.C. certainly shed light on the complete ignorance of lawmakers over social media giants like Facebook, a platform utilized by 2.2 billion individuals.

For the most part, the cringe-inducing cluelessness of lawmakers over the largest social media platform served as something to chuckle over. Yet, this should open our eyes to the importance of technological literacy, especially amongst older generations.

In an age where technology has a significant influence over our lives, it is perhaps worth addressing the importance of embracing it as opposed to nit-picking the negative. Yes, there are drawbacks to an era comprised of smartphone addicted youths but technology as a whole is not society’s greatest evil.

Older generations have often been quick to refuse the convenience of technology, deeming it “lazy” or taking away from the authenticity of daily living.

For whatever reason, we continue to have professors at EC who refuse to utilize Blackboard to post grades and lecture material. Not only does this serve as an inconvenience to students but is also a disservice to themselves.

It does not take exceptional skill to learn how to use technology, it simply takes a willingness to apply it within your daily living.

One can argue that we as a generation are heavily reliant on technology, and while that is true, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Technology has made our lives easier and there is nothing wrong with that.

Uber, an app-driven technology, has been shown to decrease rates of drunk driving in major cities. More recently, the growing transportation network is aiming to expand its services to senior citizens who are unable to drive themselves to medical appointments.

The ease of securely transferring money in a matter of seconds has been made possible through apps like Venmo and Quickpay.

Tinder has revolutionized the dating culture in a way that gives individuals the opportunity to meet other individuals they would not meet under normal circumstances.

My personal experiences in the rehabilitation field have opened my eyes to the role of technology in enriching the lives of individuals who are physically disabled. This is made possible through Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Home which have the ability to control a person’s home settings through voice command.

The possibilities are endless.

I will admit that older generations are not entirely opposed to the idea of technology and in most cases, these individuals embrace its existence. Especially during a time in their lives that require some degree of assisted living, technology has granted them some independence.

However, when it comes to social media literacy, smartphone literacy, or internet literacy, we must acknowledge that these forms of technology have to be given more credit as they heavily influence the way in which we acquire information, the way we communicate with each other, and the way in which we live.